How Mechanical Watch Works ?
Mechanical watch is a classic watch which is has no battery to power it. According to the name, this watch using spring mechanism to rotate the needles. Then how the mechanism? in this video I will show you the animation of mechanical watch working.
As an example, I will use this watch. This is simplified mechanical watch model to help us easier to understand how the mechanism inside.
So, when we see inside, there are a lot of gears. We separate them into 3 groups. First, main gear group. This is the mechanism which is has the most gears. It aims to result orderly watch movement.
The second group is ratchet. This mechanism has a function to give the energy to the watch. And the last, there are a series of gears. The gears will change the rotation into three individual rotations. Is used to move each second, minute, and hour needles.
First, we explain the main gear group. Just like what I said, this watch operated using a spring mechanism. The spring used in this mechanism has a long thick shaped which is wounded to make it coil shaped.
This coil shaped spring, located inside a spring cup. The elasticity of spring, give the rotational bounce. So that, the spring is able to rotate the spring cup.
Then, the cup has a gear in the outside. It makes the cup connected to a series of gears. That gears, all have small and big gear. the first gear used as center of clock movement. It is located on the center of the watch. So, from this gear the clock needle rotating.
Another remaining gear used to reduce the rotation of first gear. with a series like this, the rotation on the third gear is faster than first gear. in aim to increase the accuracy of clock movement. The third gear is connected to escapement system.
This system order to make the clock needles rotate at the same time all the time. This system consists of escapement gear. this gear connected to third gear and has claws Around it.
And then there is escapement fork. It shaped like a fork with two holder clips. So, this clip will hold the escapement fork. So that it prevents the gear to rotate. When we swing the fork, escapement gear will rotate one clip. That the same when we return the fork. Escapement fork will rotate one clip in continue rotation.
It means, when we swing the fork continuously, it will create fixed rotational movement on the main gear mechanism. This is what makes the clock has fixed needle movement all the time.
And then what makes this fork always swing ? there is another mechanism. It is weight balance mechanism. It consists of hair spring that has super high sensitivity, a balance wheel as a weight to trigger the mechanism, and a cam near center of balance wheel.
So, the super high sensitivity hair spring will make the weight move in alternate. The movement will pull the cam to swing the fork. So that the fork is always swing whenever the balance wheel operation.
And then what’s next when the main spring has expanded?
Of course, it will lose the energy. So, even this watch has no battery, that’s not mean this watch energize itself. In the side, we have a ratchet. Where it needs to be rotated temporally to charge the main spring.
This ratchet connected to two gears. First, the gear that connected to a center of main spring. Another gear connecting the first gear to ratchet that has different rotational ways.
When we rotate the ratchet, it will wound the center of main spring. So that, the expanded spring will back to wounded spring. So that, the spring has energy to continue the clock movement.
Then in the upper area, center gear will drive second needle. From here, the rotation will reduce sixteen time to drive minute needle. And from this, the rotation will reduce sixteen times to drive hour needle.
So, this clock mechanism has longer life spawn because it no need component replacement like battery powered clock that temporally we need to change the battery. This mechanical watch only needs mechanical rotation on the ratchet to energize the watch.
So that, once the watch stops to move, we just need rotate this ratchet.
That’s the animation of how mechanical watch works. Hope adds our